


I'll Let You Lead the Way

by aleia



Series: No Game Whatsoever [6]
Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Coming Out, M/M, Mental Health Issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-03
Updated: 2020-11-20
Packaged: 2021-03-08 17:22:21
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,171
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27370393
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aleia/pseuds/aleia
Summary: Introducing some very important new characters to this verse because wow, it felt weird to write my Aces without these two.
Relationships: Kent "Parse" Parson & Jeff "Swoops" Troy, Kent "Parse" Parson/Original Male Character(s)
Series: No Game Whatsoever [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/805731
Comments: 26
Kudos: 61





	1. Chapter 1

**Reaper:** Matty used to be so excited about training camp so he could see Parse every day. Now he’s pouting because he’ll have to share again.  
 **Matty:** You’re ridiculous.  
 **Hooks:** I believe Reaper.  
 **Swoops:** I believe Reaper because *I* wouldn’t have seen Parse at all this week if I didn’t train with him.  
 **Hooks:** Matty. He’s the captain. You have to share.  
 **Matty:** Hooks, I won’t miss you at all.  
 **Hooks:** Rude. Parse promised to take care of my child. I can tell Hammer to need a lot of attention so that takes up all of Parse’s time.  
 **Matty:** Hammer can’t possibly need any more attention than he already does. Parse has dragged him out of the strip club four times this summer. His favorite stripper now has Parse’s number so she can get rid of him when he spends the max he’s allowed.  
 **Hooks:** I’ve told him a million times that she’s not going to fall in love with him. Hiring a money manager to limit his spending was as far as I got.  
 **Hooks:** Also, this is Reaper’s fault.  
 **Reaper:** It’s not my fault. I just told him the truth. I didn’t think he’d interpret, “Refusing to pay her at her job won’t make her date you” as “Paying her more will get her to date you.” I tried to get Ty’s friend to tell him that paying her also won’t work.  
 **Hooks:** And?  
 **Reaper:** Krystle said she’s not hurting another girl’s money. So she told Hammer that it’s likely nothing will work, but paying her is his best shot.  
 **Parse:** Look, it’s Hammer’s fault. He knows what he’s doing. Hooks buys horses, Becker travels weird places. Reaper keeps making kids and he’s probably going to have a third kid by next summer. Jeff’s responsible and invests his money. Everyone has their thing.  
 **Reaper:** I’m am not having any more kids. Two is enough forever.  
 **Hooks:** Exactly. Can we get back to Matty and his clinginess?  
 **Swoops:** I think Parse decided that on his own. Matty came over and they decided to be gross until I left on my own.

***

Matty doesn’t even care how much the guys chirp him. He left for a week to visit his parents because he knew Parse would be busy with the prospects. Now he wishes that he’d stayed for prospect camp and left when Parse went to Samwell instead. Parse has always wanted to be involved with the prospects since he became captain. And with how much Reaper has been worried about Malik Miller fitting in with the team, Matty decided that the prospects didn’t need to have too many NHL players around. Parse doesn’t quite get it. Hockey was the easiest part of prospect camp for him. Parse knew he was good. He wasn’t going to be intimidated by Davy when he was texting Bob Zimmermann in his free time.

And Matty knew that Parse’s biggest concern at camp this year was Anthony Valentino. Cupid’s first year of camp, Parse worried that something was really wrong with him, but as far as anyone could figure out, he didn’t have any kind of trauma. He’s just an introvert in a crowd of extroverts. Matty gets why Parse worries about him. Parse knows he can’t get every rookie on the team, but he hates the idea that a guy doesn’t get on the team for any reason except for his hockey skills.

“He was a lot better once we put Mills in his room. Reaper thought I was crazy, but it worked,” Parse says. Matty would be offended that Parse’s more concerned about a rookie than his naked boyfriend, but they already got off and got a nap. And Matty knew what he was getting into. No one cares about the team as much Parse. It’s exactly why Parse needs Jeff and Matty to take care of him.

“Reaper just wanted to protect Mills first,” Matty says.

“I know. And I know that I’m never going to know what it was like for Reaper when he was younger. But Cupid isn’t white either. And he isolated himself at camp last year. I was hoping he’d let you adopt him, but that didn’t work.”

“Have you considered that he doesn’t want to be adopted,” Matty says.

“First of all, everyone wants to be adopted at least a little. Davy adopted you and it totally made sense because you need a tenth of the attention that Hooks needed. Second, Cupid _needs_ to get adopted. We literally almost let the bus leave him behind last year when he wasn’t even late because no one noticed he wasn’t with the group. Twice. He’s grown two inches and now he’s seven inches taller than me. How does he blend into the background so much? We’re going to completely lose him on military appreciation day. At least if he’s with Mills, everyone will know where he is at all times.”

“If I try harder to adopt him, will you give him just a little more space?” Matty asks because he’s not stupid. Parse _asked_ him to adopt Cupid already. Matty knows what he wants because Parse _told_ him.

“I feel like there’s a catch.” Parse crawls closer to him kisses up his neck. Matty pushes him away because he knows all of Parse’s tricks.

“I adopt him my way and you don’t interfere unless he comes to you.”

“I check on everyone,” Parse says without looking at him. He snuggles into Matty’s shoulder and pouts. It’s adorable.

“I know. But you don’t get to check on him extra. Come on. _Trust me_. When we were rookies, I got through to you more than anyone except for Jeff. And I did that by ignoring almost all the orders Jeff gave everyone.” Matty runs his hand through Parse’s hair and his pout shifts to a smile.

“Okay, as long as he doesn’t end up here.”

Matty laughs.

***

Matty loves Parse more than anything, but he’s realistic. No matter how much Parse complains about Jeff and Reaper hovering and treating him like a kid, everyone knows that he loves it. He doesn’t understand that not everyone wants so much attention. He’s never understood how Matty just wanted the older guys to treat him the same way they treat each other. Fortunately, Davy and Reaper understood, so it didn’t matter. But Matty has met Malik Miller. It was only for ten minutes, but he is literally the most annoying person Matty’s ever met. He’s talented and supposedly his skating speed is close to Parse’s. That energy is great on the ice, but Matty is sure that he has to be driving Cupid insane.

But when they get to camp, it’s obvious that Cupid’s hovering behind Mills on purpose.

“I told you,” Parse says with a grin.

“I did not factor in that he would figure out hiding behind the tornado keeps everyone else from seeing him. Has Reaper thought this through? He already has Mason.”

“Reaper’s determined and please don’t say anything to Mills. He already knows some of the guys at prospect camp thought he was annoying. He was upset about it.”

Matty likes to think he’s mostly immune to Parse’s pout. He’s definitely better at resisting than Jeff or Reaper as long as Parse can’t cheat and start feeling him up.

But, “I’m not going to pick on a child,” Matty tells him.

“He’s older than I was,” Parse says.

“By a few weeks. And you were…” Matty looks back at Mills. He’s half-dressed and doing some kind of dance that Matty is too old to know the name of while Cupid calmly suits up behind him.

“If Cupid makes the team and I offer him my guest room, I’m going to have a hyperactive child visiting him in my apartment.” This is the worst thing Parse has ever talked him into and Parse has made him go to frat parties.

“So, I can tell him to go visit Cupid when you’re being annoying and saying you have to sleep at home?” Parse’s smirk is going to be the death of him.

***

Reaper gets more time with Cupid than Matty because they’re both defense, but Mills never seems to run out of energy, so he always stays on the ice as long as possible. It gives Matty a few minutes to get to Cupid in the locker room.

“Look, I’m just going to be honest with you. Parse does not understand that not everyone wants the older guys in their business. I told him I’d convince you to let me adopt you. If you agree, then all the older guys will get off your back unless you ask them for something. And I’m about ten times as chill as any of these other guys.”  
Cupid nods.

“I like the guys,” Cupid says without looking him in the eye. “I’m just not really good with a lot of people.”

“Is Mills actually not driving you crazy?”

Cupid shrugs and smiles.

“He doesn’t mind that I’m quiet.”

***

“How?” Parse asks when camp is over, and Cupid has agreed to stay in Matty’s spare room.

“Basically, the same way I got you to be my friend.”

“I was going to be your friend anyway. I _wanted_ to be friends with my team,” Parse says.

“He does too. He just needs it to happen slowly. So, I told him the truth—that if he just agreed to hang out with me some, everyone else would calm down and back off.”

“You told him that I was worried about him and asked you to adopt him?” Parse glares at him even though Matty is making him dinner.

“I did. And he came over and we agreed to roommate conditions. I didn’t tell him that Mills couldn’t come over, so I hope you and Swoops understand that you have to get that kid out of my apartment when I want to kill him.” Matty puts the food in front of him. It’s their last day off before Cupid moves in. Matty wants to enjoy the last time he and Parse can be together in his apartment for a while.

“That’s cheating,” Parse says. “But I guess you still got further than I did.”

“It was the truth. He liked the honesty. And he likes you. You’re just more intimidating because he wants to impress you. Give him some time to stop thinking of you as two-time Stanley Cup Winner Kent Parson. You forget that these guys have been watching you on TV for years—which is good because that’s we all like that it hasn’t gone to your head, but he’s not there yet. I’m pretty sure you’ve actually been his favorite player for a while. He definitely has some Aces stuff from before his draft year and he’s from Texas.”

“You’re two-time Stanley Cup Winner Jordan Matthews,” Parse says even though he’s blushing.

“Can you call me that again in a couple hours?”

“That’s a kink? Do you want to fuck me while I’m wearing your jersey too?”

Parse starts laughing, but he does put on Matty’s jersey before they get in bed.

***

**Reaper:** I know Matty wants you to himself right now, but I have a tiny problem.  
 **Parse:** What’s up?  
 **Reaper:** I might have messed up with Mills.  
 **Parse:** Messed up how?  
 **Reaper:** We had an argument and he left last night. He isn’t answering my texts.  
 **Parse:** You lost your rookie?  
 **Reaper:** He’s spoiled. All I did was ask him to clean after himself. Apparently, he’s never been asked that in his entire life.  
 **Parse:** Matty texted Cupid. He’s not with Cupid.  
 **Reaper:** So now Cupid and Matty know I lost him.  
 **Parse:** Cupid just thinks Matty wanted to know if he was at the apartment. I’ll text Mills.

***

“He’s at a hotel. Don’t tell Cupid yet. Cupid will just worry and if Mills wanted him to know, he would’ve told him,” Parse says.

“I want leftovers from whatever Reaper cooks for dinner after you fix this,” Matty says as he packs away the supplies that he brought to cook for them.

“I promise.” Parse kisses him goodbye and leaves. Matty picks up Kit and carries her to the couch.

“You’re going to betray me and love this kid as much as you love your dad, aren’t you?” Matty asks Kit.

***

Matty snacks until Parse comes home. Reaper’s cooking is worth waiting for.

“I hate people,” Parse says before Matty can even ask him what happened. “You weren’t wrong about Reaper getting a new kid, but not for the reason you thought.”

Matty knows when Parse needs to rant, so he just nods to show that he’s paying attention and finishes warming up his food before taking it to the couch.

“His stupid parents adopted him like he was just a status symbol. Because they wanted to be Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt. Luckily, they didn’t adopt five other kids before they figured out that kids are a lot of work. But they couldn’t just un-adopt Mills, so they just paid people to watch him until he was old enough to go to boarding school. I knew he went to the same boarding school as me. I didn’t know he started in sixth grade.”

Parse picks up Kit and holds her close.

“So how is that why he ran away from Reaper?” Matty agrees that it sucks, but he’s not sure what that has to do with Reaper. Mills played junior hockey. He must have billeted.

“They always paid people to do everything for him. He’s had an apartment with a staff for the last two years. At boarding school, he paid other kids clean for him and sent his laundry to a service. Reaper isn’t going to let him have a live-in maid and Mills is not used to taking care of himself, and well, you’ve met Ty.”

Parse _was_ the scholarship kid at boarding school who tried to pick up jobs from the rich kids for spending money. He should hate Mills. But Parse just sees someone else with shitty parents.

“I’m surprised Ty didn’t kick him out and make you take him home.”

“Ty wouldn’t do that,” Parse says because he’s Ty’s favorite. “We figured out some compromises for now. They’re all going to work on it. It’ll be really good for him.”

“And I have his best friend in my apartment so he’s going to be bothering me when he drives Reaper and Ty insane. Why did I let you talk me into this?” Matty asks as he picks up his phone to text Jeff.

**Matty:** I want keys to your apartment for when Mills comes to my apartment and drives me insane.  
 **Swoops:** Parse will give you keys eventually, but sure. I’ll get you copies before the party tomorrow.

“You like Cupid and you’re glad you adopted him. You know that.” Parse releases Kit and pushes Matty forward on the couch so that he can sit behind him and drape himself over Matty’s back.

“I’m eating,” Matty says, but he doesn’t push Parse off. They both know he’s not going to do that when he’s not really mad at Parse.

“I know you think he’s annoying, but he’s really trying not to be. He’s a good kid.”

“So I can’t tell him that I’m not going to like him until he scores a goal that wins me the Stanley Cup again?”

“We literally just won,” Parse says. Matty can hear the smile in his voice before he kisses Matty’s neck.

“So we repeat.”

“You are _not_ telling our youngest rookie that he has to win you the Cup before you like him. But I know you won’t no matter how much of a grump you are because you’re too nice for that.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Matty says, but he doesn’t push Parse away.


	2. Chapter 2

Cupid is the easiest roommate Matty has ever had in his life. Living with him only has three negatives. First, it means that Matty has to go to Parse’s house if he wants to get laid. Second, Cupid’s so ridiculously clean that he sometimes cleans after Matty. He never says anything about it and always brushes it off when Matty apologizes for leaving a dish in the sink and claims that he was cleaning his own dishes anyway. But it still kind of makes Matty feel ridiculous because Matty’s twenty-seven. He should be a better adult that a nineteen-year-old kid.

Third, is obviously Mills. Parse loves the kid completely and Matty isn’t going to be an asshole and tell Cupid that his best friend can’t come over. But the kid is annoying. He’s ridiculously good at chel and loves to chirp everyone else about it. He’s completely spoiled no matter how much Reaper claims that he’s working on that. It almost makes Matty happy that they have to have sex at Parse’s house because it means that any time Mills is annoying, he can just sext Parse until Parse begs him to come over. It’s shameless and Parse knows why he does it, but Matty feels zero guilt. It works out for both of them anyway.

But Matty still likes Cupid. So, he’s not going to tell him that Mills can’t come over. Not when Matty has a key to Jeff’s apartment and an open invitation to crash if Parse needs a break or Matty just feels awkward about pushing to stay with Parse because they’re dating.

Problem four doesn’t come until January when Mills makes a comment about how they should set up Parse, and Cupid cuts him off before Matty has figured out how to do the same.

“He’s an adult. He had Hammer’s girlfriend’s number before Hammer had her number. I think if he wanted a girlfriend, then he’d have one,” Cupid says without looking away from the TV. It’s fair. Matty’s glad he managed to pay attention to Fortnite when Mills started the conversation.

“Why wouldn’t he want a girlfriend?” Mills asks.

“I don’t know. But he never talks about it, so maybe leave it alone.”

Cupid’s eyes flick over to him for just a second. It’s only a second. It’s tiny. But Matty sees and dies on screen. He makes up an excuse that he has to go to the bathroom and goes just so he can hide.

**Matty:** Are you with Parse?  
 **Swoops:** Yeah, why?

*

**Matty:** Don’t freak out.  
 **Parse:** That is literally the worst thing you can say if you don’t want someone to freak out.  
 **Matty:** Sorry. I’m sort of freaking out, so I’m not good at this right now.  
 **Parse:** Ok. What’s wrong? Jeff says you texted him.  
 **Matty:** I can’t just leave. I didn’t want you to freak out if he wasn’t there.  
 **Parse:** What’s wrong?  
 **Matty:** I think Cupid knows about us.  
 **Parse:** Did he say something?  
 **Matty:** Mills was talking about how he doesn’t get why you don’t have a girlfriend. Cupid kind of cut him off and told him not to bother you about it. And he gave me a look. There was definitely a look.  
 **Parse:** And then what?  
 **Matty:** And then I went to hide in the bathroom and text you. Mills is still here. I can’t just ask him.  
 **Parse:** Reaper’s going to text Mills and ask him to come home.  
 **Matty:** Is it bad if I hide in the bathroom until he leaves?  
 **Parse:** Well, he probably thinks you’re taking a shit already, so it doesn’t matter.  
 **Matty:** How are you joking?  
 **Parse:** Jeff. He’s trying to keep me from freaking out.  
 **Matty:** That’s good I guess.  
 **Parse:** He says if Cupid knows and he hasn’t said anything, he’s probably not going to. He’s probably doing what you guys did before we came out to each other and just not saying anything. Plus it’s Cupid. He doesn’t normally say much anyway.  
 **Matty:** True. Yeah. Ok. He’s never said anything homophobic. He didn’t tell Mills.  
 **Parse:** Reaper says Mills is on his way home. Do you want us to come?  
 **Matty:** No. That’s really obvious.

***

Matty has never felt more terrified of his own living room, but he walks out of the bathroom. Cupid’s in the living room. The TV screen is on the menu. Matty stands in the hallway behind the couch.

“Sorry,” Cupid says. “We can pretend none of that happened. I’m not going to say anything to anyone. Mills didn’t figure anything out.”

“How much do you know?” Matty asks. They were talking about Parse. It’s possible that he doesn’t know that they’re dating _each other_.

“I don’t know if you’re gay or bi or whatever,” Cupid says. “I just know you and Parse are something.”

Matty finally moves and sits next to Cupid on the couch.

“I don’t care. It doesn’t bother me, and I won’t tell anyone,” Cupid says. He shrugs and looks at Matty for first time. “It’s your business.”

“I should tell Parse he doesn’t have to freak out.”

**Matty:** He knows. He says he won’t tell anyone.  
 **Parse:** How does he know?  
 **Matty:** He says, “I live with you.” Apparently, he’s not stupid and has noticed that I don’t sleep at home a lot. And I don’t talk on the phone quietly enough. He was able to draw conclusions, but he says he hasn’t and wouldn’t tell anyone.

“You really don’t care?” Matty asks.

“It’s kind of a relief,” Cupid says. He looks away from Matty and down to the floor.

“A relief?”

“Yeah, I’m…” Cupid takes a deep breath before finishing. “I’m gay.”

When Matty looks closer, Cupid’s face is wet and he’s shaking a little. Matty quickly pulls him into a hug.

“Sorry,” Cupid says when he pulls back. “I know you don’t care, obviously.”

“First time saying it?” Matty asks.

“Yeah.”

“I totally freaked out at my sister. I mean, I told her I was bi, but same idea.”

***

“I feel like I should’ve known,” Parse whispers after they’re curled up in his bed. It’s nice to be able to make Parse come to him again, but after learning that he hasn’t been as quiet on his phone calls as he thought, he’s not sure when he’ll be open to having sex in his apartment again. It’s one thing to traumatize Jeff. It seems weird to traumatize his rookie. He likes to feel superior to Reaper even if Mills exaggerates.

“I live with him. He’s my rookie. If anyone should’ve known, it should have been me. Or Mills. He doesn’t want anyone to know. He didn’t go first in the draft, so he’s never gotten very much attention. He already blends into the background a lot.”

“So I failed at staying in the closet because I like attention too much?” Kent asks with a smirk.

“You failed at staying in the closet because it’s impossible for people not to see you.”


	3. Chapter 3

“Mills knows there’s something people are keeping from him,” Cupid tells Matty with no warning while he’s packing up his things in the apartment. It’s not a surprise that Cupid’s moving into his own apartment. They get along, but it’s obvious that Cupid would rather have his own space. And Matty will be happy to not have Mills invading his apartment as often.

“You want us to tell him?”

“That’s up to you. I’m not going to tell you who to come out to. I just thought you should know,” Cupid says.

Of course, he won’t. _Cupid_ still hasn’t come out to Mills. But Matty knows it’s different. He’s been in that awful place of being in love with his best friend who doesn’t seem interested. And at least Parse isn’t straight.

“Has he figured out that you know?”

“Maybe,” Cupid admits. “I tried to discourage him a little. I think he figured out that it was because I didn’t want to lie to him.”

“I’ll talk to Parse about it. I think he wants to tell Mills anyway. Don’t worry about it.”

***

“Are you sure?” Parse asks. It’s sweet. It’s obvious that Parse wants to tell Mills, but he doesn’t want to push Matty into it. It’s not a secret that Mills isn’t Matty’s favorite person. But Parse is also right that he does love Mills. Just in that way that you love your significant other’s yappy dog that climbs all over you and drives you crazy.

*

**Parse:** I think that was the least exciting reaction we’ve had.  
 **Matty:** Did he already know?  
 **Parse:** No, but apparently kids these days all have gay friends and it’s just no big deal.  
 **Matty:** Any chance he was like, “I’m also not straight and I’m in love with Cupid. Jenna is totally a beard.”  
 **Parse:** Unfortunately, no. I told him Cupid figured it out because he lives with you, but it wasn’t his place to tell anyone and he understood that. But Jenna is very much real and as far as I can tell, he has no idea about Cupid and neither does anyone else.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Notes: This was definitely the story for introing Cupid and Mills. This verse just felt so weird without them. That said, I tried so hard to make this chapter longer but no matter what I did, Mills refused to have a reaction to Parse being gay. He just does not care.

**Author's Note:**

> Reaper: I'm not having any more kids.  
> Mills: *insert that entrance gif from ANTM*
> 
> Matty says that Jack is the annoying little brother he didn't want or ask for but everyone knows that's actually Mills. He loves Mills. He just also finds him annoying.
> 
> I actually didn’t just forget about this fic. I’m sorry I didn’t post it as soon as I planned. It is finished and I'll try to get the posts up quickly.
> 
> If I made any mistakes and you want to tell me in comments, I totally welcome it. <3
> 
> If you want to read all my other stuff it is posted on a different site. I'm not to allowed to link it here, but the link to that can be found on  
> my tumblr: @lostinanimage  
> or  
> Reaper's twitter: https://twitter.com/XGrimmReaper33


End file.
